Although it is regrettable that A Singular Voice: Essays on Australian art and architecture by Joan Kerr, first proposed in 2003, when Kerr was still alive, has taken so long to appear, it has been worth the wait. The handsomely produced book displays Kerr’s writings to advantage, and the sparing but judicious use of images enhances and reinforces the egalitarian kind of art history that Kerr espoused.

The book begins with a foreword by Roger Benjamin, Professor of Art History at the University of Sydney, where Joan Kerr (1938–2004) spent most of her working life. This is followed by a selection of twenty-nine essays, divided into three parts – ‘Art and Life’, ‘Art and Artists’, and ‘Art and Architecture’ – although there is considerable crossover between them, which attests to the difficulties involved in trying to categorise Kerr’s work. The anthology ends with a brief biography of milestones in Kerr’s private life and public career.